Brazilian Cities Advance in Bloomberg’s Mayors Challenge

Bloomberg Philanthropies announced the 20 Latin American and Caribbean cities selected as finalists in its 2016 Mayors Challenge, a competition that encourages cities to generate bold ideas that solve urban challenges and improve city life – and have potential to spread. The finalists, hailing from 10 countries, will move forward to compete for a $5 million USD grand prize and four $1 million awards, as well as extensive implementation support.

The ideas reflect creative new approaches to some of the most pressing issues facing cities in the region, including mobility, youth unemployment, waste management, obesity, and social and economic inclusion for immigrants and people with disabilities.

Prize winners will be announced by the end of 2016. The Brazilian cities finalists’ ideas are outlined below:

BARUERI, SP: Social Inclusion for People with Disabilities/ Workforce Development: Increasing access to the workforce for people with disabilities by creating a physical and virtual network to improve job training, analyze workplace conditions, and provide technical assistance to employers and job candidates.

CORUMBÁ, MS: Environment/ Economic Development: Combatting further environmental degradation caused by improper disposal of ore – a mining by product – by repurposing the waste into productive materials for construction.

CURITIBA, PR: Social Inclusion for People with Disabilities/Mobility: Drawing on its history of transit innovation, improving the mobility of disabled people by integrating more inclusive transport services and introducing better designed routes.

RIO DE JANEIRO, RJ: Public Health: Improving children’s healthcare standards and outcomes by removing silos and integrating data across agencies to improve the health and wellbeing of children ages zero to six.

SÃO PAULO, SP: Economic Development: Creating an online exchange that connects growing local demand for locally produced farm products from restaurants, markets, and schools to struggling local farmers on the outskirts of the city, addressing a market failure.